Junior Lizette Lopez, 17, chants while holding up a sign during the National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Sophomore Guillermo Rodriquez, 16, holds up a sign during the National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Sophomore Karen Garcia, 15, holds up a sign during the National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Sophomores Noemi Atilano, 16, and Isabella Mendez, 16, hold a sign together in front of the school campus during the National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Students wait near the door of a classroom before the start of the National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Students walk down stairs towards the front of campus during the National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Junior Isaiah Salasortiz, 16, holds up a sign in front of the school campus during the National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Students walk out of classrooms to the front of campus to participate in the National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Multiple students hold signs up in front of the school campus during National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Students observe from a school balcony during the National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Sophomore Vanessa Rodriguez, 16, holds up a sign during the National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Students gather in front of the campus during the National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Junior Lizette Lopez, 17, chants while holding up a sign during the National School Walkout at Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif. on Wednesday March 14, 2018. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr, Contributing Photographer)

Sophomore Vanessa Rodriguez, 16, of Montebello, who organized the rally but was not allowed by her parents to talk to the media, said through brother Alberto that she wanted to bring attention to the issue of guns.

“She and her fellow peers are tired of holding their breath and waiting to see who’s going to be next,” he said in a voicemail message.

Authorities in Florida have charged Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old former student of the Florida school, with 34 counts of murder and attempted murder. Since the shooting, Stoneman Douglas’s teen survivors have become activists, and students around the country have taken a cue from them.

Schurr students remained on campus, separated from the outside by a fence and locked gate. Some students remained on the second floor of classroom buildings, chanting “No more guns.”

“I think that people in the prime of their life should be growing up and learning, not be cut short by some punk with a gun,” student Isaiah Salasortiz said. He advocates “any piece of legislation,” whether it be limiting assault rifles or added background checks.

Schurr High was not the only Montebello Unified school with rallies on Wednesday. At 1 p.m., Montebello High students, wearing orange, talked about the lives lost in Florida, gun violence, antibullying and to whom students should turn when they see something suspicious.

Orange balloons with an index card — each one having a name of a person who was killed — were released after a student announced the name.

A school choir then sung John Lennon’s “Imagine” at the end of the ceremony.

Schurr High School students in Montebello walk out of class during the national school walkout on March 18, 2018 to protest gun violence. (Mike Sprague/SCNG)

In Whittier, students walked out at both La Serna and Whittier high schools.

Mike Sprague started at the Whittier Daily News in April 1984. Since then, Sprague has covered every city in the Whittier Daily News circulation area, as well as political and water issues. Sprague received a bachelor's degree in communications and a master's degree in political science, both from Cal State Fullerton.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.